Doctors suffer from the God-complex. Michael Foucault, the twentieth century iconoclast had shown in his famous book Discipline and Punish how and why medicos think they own they are gods. Foucault pointed out that doctors feel they know us inside out, literarily. Humans are thus commoditized. Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, two pharmaceutical majors are brazenly paying doctors millions of dollars in the US to prescribe anaemia drugs. These drugs may carry increased risks for cardiovascular problems. Doctors receiving pay-offs are once again flaunting their privileged knowledge of the human anatomy to justify their use of these drugs. We, the common people, the rag-tag do not have enough knowledge to comment on their prescriptions. News Target reports one practice being paid $2.7 million in rebates for selling $9 millions of Amgen medicines. While the doctors play with our lives, the FDA, the US drugs watchdog, winks and pretends to await further result. Chances are that doctors in the FDA are allowing these pharmaceutical giants to rake in the cash before the clampdown happens. In the medical industry, the first mover’s advantage translates into huge profits.
The clampdown may never happen because perversely much of the research, from Stage 1 trials to final human trials, is funded by pharma – majors. They will not easily allow any molecule to be withdrawn from the market. They argue that the introduction of new molecules for the public is a very costly affair. And if such withdrawals are done on the basis of scanty research then drug-majors will be scared of releasing medications for the public. They point out that these payoffs and errors might be evil but necessary trade-offs. They use the hackneyed ‘for the common good’ argument. Some folks must die to save the population. The dead folks are paying to keep us alive.
We almost agree with these drug companies. Like businesses everywhere they are not here to save lives but to make money by hook or crook. But the moment we realize that doctors are involved, we get scared. These are the guys we are trusting with our lives. Who knows when we might be medicated to death by one of these pharma stables’ doctors. Be very scared of doctors.
Via: Newstarget
Image:SPMH